Too Shy
by SamCyberCat
Summary: A young foreigner suffers the racism of the Egyptian commoners but finds he’s too scared to seek help from the priests. MahaadoxRyou [MahadxBakura], AU, drabble fic.


Ryou wiped the sweat from his brow.

The day was far too warm to be out in the streets, his pale complexion was already causing him to burn up and he was worried this would seriously damage his health.

For the moment he had nowhere to go in the city, so he had no shade from the burning sun. However an open tavern beckoned invitingly. Though it looked dark inside Ryou desperately needed the shade and any place away from the sun would do him good.

He stumbled towards the door.

Inside it was smoky and unwelcoming. As soon as he stepped inside unfriendly eyes darted over to him and watched him as he approached the bar.

Gently pulling himself onto one of the seats Ryou glanced up at the bar tender and said, "A glass of water please…"

"You've got pale skin!" the tender accused.

"Yes…" Ryou replied nodding slowly, "I was born in another country."

The tender did not look amused that Ryou was pointing out the obvious to him even if he had just done so himself.

Leaning over the counter he responded, "The last person who came here with pale skin got us in some trouble with the priests."

"I can see why that would give us a bad reputation," Ryou agreed, wishing he could have some water, "But we're not all bad people. Just like people in your country have different personalities people in other countries do too. You can't judge someone by the colour of their skin."

"I can judge all I like!" the tender shouted in response, pulling back his fist and smacking Ryou hand in the face causing him to fall to the floor.

This made the other customers grow rowdy. Some of them got up from their seats jeering and throwing things in their direction.

One sinister looking man approached the bar saying, "Is this foreigner causing you any trouble sir?"

The bar tender nodded, "He's saying I judge people too quickly!"

"Sir, you attacked me!" Ryou protested.

The second man turned to Ryou and scorned, "You pale face kids expect everyone to accept you. You go around from place to place wanting sympathy but we're not going to give it to you. Stay in your own country you scum!" With that he kicked sand from the floor up at his face.

Coughing Ryou pulled himself up to his not-very-impressive full height and answered, "It's quite all right, I'll leave! I can get water somewhere else!"

"So our water's not good enough for you now?!"

"You just said that I couldn't drink here," Ryou replied, already walking to the door without waiting for a reply.

Before he came close one of the men kicked him in the small of his back making him fall down. The rest of the events followed in a blur to Ryou as he tried to focus his head afterwards… He remembered being attacked by several men and, obviously, beaten up. They had threatened him not to go to the priests. As apparently one priest had taken sympathy on a white skinned foreigner beforehand and caused a bit of an upset.

Right now he was sitting in a side street rubbing one of his bruises. Of course he wasn't going to go to the priests. He'd heard all about them from previous travellers. Two of them at least, Seth and Akunadin, were known for being violent and biased… If Seth were the one said to take pity on foreigners then he'd rather not have the pity.

Some sleep might make him feel better, to help ease the pain away… But whenever he closed his eyes he found it caused him pain. Plus his head felt heavy, too heavy to be supported by his neck. Without realising it he collapsed down to the sandy ground breathing lightly through his mouth.

Fate should have it that a man would take pity on Ryou. A shadowy figure picked him up and walked out into the main stream of the city. At this time all Ryou could tell about the figure was that he was probably quite tall, but as long as he was helping him out Ryou didn't mind the details.

The stranger's chest was warm so Ryou took this chance to snuggle into it and wasn't protested against for this. The last people he was this close to were his parents, and they hadn't been around for a while. After winning a battle against his sore eyes he managed to drift off to sleep.

When he was lying in the realm of being half way between being awake and asleep Ryou could feel a hand run softly through his hair. He could hear muffled conversation and decided to focus on it.

"You really are one for a pretty face aren't you?" questioned a female voice.

"You accuse!" A male replied back in a mock hurt tone, "I would not like a person for their looks."

The girl giggled slightly before answering, "What about the pharaoh?"

Ryou could tell the atmosphere between these two was friendly and wherever he was he was safe, which comforted him.

"The… the pharaoh is a very kind hearted person! And any attraction to him that I have is based on friendship!" the male voice shot back, speaking a bit too quickly to be believed. As the hand had suddenly stopped stroking his hair with that sentence Ryou guessed it was the male and not the female who had been stroking it.

The girl giggled again in disbelief and said, "You're too shy to take it further aren't you?"

"The pharaoh would not want our relationship to be anything other then friendship," the male said in a finishing tone.

Ryou felt it was time to make it known he was awake, so he opened his eyes and slowly sat up. He found he was wearing bandages over most of his injuries.

The two speakers turned to look at him with mild surprise, as if they'd forgotten he was there.

"Your handsome stranger awakes," the girl said to her companion. At first glance she was an Egyptian with an impossible brown haircut and a short pale dress.

"Do not be so rude Mana," scorned the male, turning to face Ryou, "Please don't be offended by my student Mana, she means no harm. I am Mahaado by the way, a priest for the pharaoh."

Ryou nodded and replied, "I am Ryou, a traveller from a foreign land… You must be the priest who takes sympathy on foreigners, though I heard it was Seth."

This statement made Mahaado laugh slightly before responding, "Seth only took sympathy on one foreigner because of her Ka, it's unlikely he would care much for any other."

"Did that foreigner cause any trouble here?" Ryou questioned, thinking to what the bartender told him.

Mahaado looked thoughtful for a moment then answered, "That really depends upon your point of view."

"The people in the bar hate foreigners because of the trouble they got into, that's why they beat me up…" Ryou reflected.

"Ah… so that's why you were in such a state when I found you," Mahaado replied, "I was going to ask you about that. At least now we can press charges against the owner of the bar."

"Please don't!" Ryou begged, "If you press charges they'll just hate foreigners more. They'll think I came to tell you when they told me not to and I'll never be able to live in the city in peace."

Mahaado looked surprised to hear he planned on staying in the city. He honestly thought most of the travellers would just be passing through.

To calm Ryou's nerves he answered, "To keep you safe I will not press charges against them, but as long as you have someone to stay with and a place to go they should not attack you."

"Actually I don't have anywhere to stay, and I don't know anyone in the city… I don't even have a job yet…" Ryou trailed off, a little downhearted about how silly travelling to Egypt sounded when he put it in words.

"Well you're in luck," Mana cut in cheerfully, "Because my friend Mahaado here is a bleeding heart and will take in anyone with a sad enough story behind them."

"Mana!"

"Well, it's true."

Sighing Mahaado turned back to Ryou and said, "She's right. I couldn't send you out into the city with nowhere to go so you can stay here and work as an aid for the temple."

"But I don't even know you, and I'm not sure I'd be any good at temple work," Ryou replied, unintentionally putting a down side to the deal.

Mana wasn't having any of this and made it known; "If you don't know anyone in the city then you'd have to get a job and home from someone you don't know so it might as well be us."

Sitting next to Ryou the priest added, "Looking after the temple will just involve simple tasks like cleaning, cooking and other economics. Stuff that myself and the others don't have time for because of work."

Ryou had to admit he probably wouldn't get a better deal from anyone else he had a chance of meeting in the city. He nodded slowly, smiling up at the priest and suddenly remembered that he still felt tired. Perhaps he was being bold but the way Mahaado looked at him reminded him strongly of his mother so he rested his head on the other's chest and snuggled into him.

Mahaado allowed this and put his arms around the small boy, pulling him closer.

Outside of the notice of the two boys Mana shook her head. Even if he wouldn't admit it she knew Mahaado i was /i a sucker for a pretty face. More so a pretty face that was small, weak and needed protecting from the outside world. She figured that he was attracted to the Pharaoh for that reason, that he was small and had a pretty face. But much to Mahaado's unspoken disappointment the Pharaoh did not need protecting.

Watching the two of them snuggle together Mana could see herself travelling to the land of the "third wheel" pretty soon… But that didn't bother here too much. Because even nice guys need someone to love.


End file.
